Page 82 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Listening and Speaking

Table 4.2 Types of Speaking Activities with Examples
Types Examples
Interviews Activities in which learners interview each other in pairs can be used at different
levels, from simple interactions in which learners ask each other personal infor-
mation, about their favourite food, pets or hobbies to more advanced pair work
in which learners enquire about each other’s families, future plans, etc. Teachers
can make interviews meaningful by linking them to a real-life context, such as a
conversation between a doctor and a patient, a football star and a fan, two peo-
ple sitting next to each other on a plane, etc.
Guessing There are a number of benefits of using games for developing speaking skills.
games A game which can easily be tailored to the learners’ level is Guess who or what.
The game can be played in groups or pairs and can be used with different topics,
for example personal descriptions or professions. If they play in pairs, each pupil
gets a slip from the teacher’s hat with the picture of a famous person on it. Learn-
ers ask each other yes/no questions (Is he a sportsman?, Does he have dark hair?,
etc.) in order to find out which is their partner’s famous person.
Information In information gap tasks, students use the language to exchange some informa-
gap tasks tion and get their meaning across. We usually need to give out two sets of in-
structions or information so as to make sure that one student has the informa-
tion that the other requires. There are several advantages of using information
gap tasks. First of all, all learners are equally involved in the process and they
have a specific purpose. Therefore, motivation is usually quite high. In addition,
information gap tasks often reflect real-life situations which require cooperation
and meaning negotiation. A good example of such a task is an activity in which
learners give each other directions to get to a place on a map.
Class survey Another type of activity which provides opportunities for repeating various in-
teraction patterns is ‘classroom survey’ which can be used with a variety of topics
and communication patterns:
Do you like/eat/know ...? – Yes, I do./No, I don’t.
Can you play/sing/speak ...? – Yes I can./No, I can’t.
Have you got ...? – Yes, I have./No, I haven’t.
Which do you prefer,...? – (Apples.)
What’s your favourite ...? – My favourite ... is ...
In a survey activity, pupils go around the classroom to interview their classmates.
Such activities are usually full of excitement and action, so it is a good idea to
give clear instruction and time limits. The teacher should also give the pupils a
clear objective of the survey, e.g. to find out which is the favourite fruit among
the pupils in the classroom (which is something the school cook might want to
know). The results of the survey may be presented by the students or the teacher
in a table on the whiteboard.
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chunk ‘My monster has got ...’ and a selection of set phrases describing the
body (e.g. three legs, a big head, red eyes). In the second activity, the learn-

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